I found freedom and grace in Weight Watchers

I rejoined Weight Watchers.. again.

The last month or so I have really been battling a head game and I while I needed the consistency and accountability of tracking my food, what I saw yesterday is that I needed the freedom and grace more.

I know. FREEDOM and GRACE while tracking food??? 

Yep.

Here is why. When I'm just doing my thing and going with the flow, unless I am hard core shake in the morning, and totally healthy choices for lunch and dinner, in my mind, I have failed on the food choices that day. I start beating myself up over the cookie(s) that I ate or the whatever and I immediately go into a negative head space.

With Weight Watchers, I don't do that. I track my food and at the end of the day when I sit down with my glass of Pinot Grigio (4 points) I enjoy it.

So yes, I am back on the Weight Watchers wagon. I really like the updated app and options. I totally think that the WW mindset would be great for those that want to gain weight as well as for those that want to lose/maintain weight. Tracking food can be overwhelming and for people like me with obsessive personalities, counting calories can be addictive and push us into a negative head space as we use calories as a means of control. not good.

Here is a screenshot from my dashboard. With the latest WW update I get more points each day even though I weigh the same that I did in January when I deleted the app from my phone! I like more points. :) 

I also really like the updated activity log. I am a very active person and I never felt like the old activity counter truly recorded my daily life. But for example yesterday, I shoveled and hauled dirt around the pool for a long time. I recorded 65 minutes of hard labor and earned 16 points for my efforts. I like that!  I set my goal to earn 55 FitPoints each week. I figure that is a very doable goal for me. Even with a stress fracture on my left foot and no running. (bummer, but soon I hope!)

And there you have it. 

And in case you were wondering, yes I am still using Isagenix products. The IsaLean Shake is 7 points and that is a lot for me for breakfast, but totally worth it as I feel good and stay full during the morning. In fact, if I wanted to do Isagenix hardcore with Weight Watchers, I totally could as a shake for breakfast and lunch with healthy snacks during the day would leave me with more than enough points to have a quality evening meal. 

So there you have it. 

I'll keep you posted on the journey. For now, I'm going to go enjoy my cup of coffee with my 2point creamer. Yes, that is a splurge I will take every time!

Oh, and want to know what my goal is? To drop my body fat percentage by 7%. yep. Sounds crazy doesn't it.  But, my body fat percentage is too high. yuck. And it lives on my abdomen, thighs and the underside of my arms.  A 7% drop won't even put me into the "fitness" category for body fat.. it will just be in the middle of the acceptable range! OUCH! 

In order to lose the body fat I know that I will lose some on the scale too, but that isn't my motivation this time around. I'm not worried about what the scale says, nor am I interested in dropping clothes sizes. I really like my size 6. I just want to be healthy.

Thanks for joining me on this path.

Day 1.. Eat to Live

I read Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live book a couple of years ago after talking with one of my running buddies for months about her eating choices, her energy and her attitude. One of the things that Fuhrman states is that you have to be willing to NOT JUST give it a try for six weeks..but to make a commitment to the eating lifestyle. With that, I said, no thanks.

Well, periodically something would come up and I would ask the friend her take on a food choice or health issue. She always has a great common sense approach and is willing to give me lots of advice knowing that in the end, I'm only going to do probably 10% of her suggestions.. cause really, I don't want to have to work too hard at this healthy lifestyle approach!

Spring forward a year or so and one of my other running buddies and her husband decided to tackle the six week challenge and they have been transformed. My friend has lost a over 10 pounds and at least that many inches (she wasn't overweight to begin with.. just "healthy" like me) in six weeks. More than that, she comments about how good she feels.  All I know is that since she starting eating like this, she has become increasingly fast on our morning runs!

Anyway, the last year I have really struggled with the 10 pounds that I have gained back from my original goal weight in 2012. I lose them, I gain them.. back and forth, over and over again.  Besides the fact that I really wanted to lose another 8 pounds as that was my dream weight goal...

So, all that to say, I borrowed the book again and reread it and decided to just take the plunge and go for it!  The hardcore 6 weeks plan (in my opinion) is really more for the morbidly obese as that is where his case studies fit.  But I am going to give it my best effort.

What am I eating? Well.. no dairy, no animal products, no sugar. LOTS and lots of raw vegetables (1 pound a day is the goal), LOTS and lots of cooked vegetables (another pound goal), four servings of fruit, a cup of beans and a small serving of oil.

Specifically...what did I eat today?

Well...here is my day:

• Got up and ran 4 miles at 5am
• Had a strawberry, banana, peach smoothie with 1/2 cup almond milk and a scoop of Rockin Wellness for breakfast. I also had a cup of coffee with a little bit of non-dairy creamer and some cinnamon in it. (yes, that is cheating.. but let me refer you to page 306.. if a cup of coffee makes me able to stick to the eating, then he says have the cup of coffee!) My goal is to eradicate the non-dairy creamer soon...
• For lunch I had a huge salad with the normal salad veggies plus black beans, a handful of frozen corn and a tablespoon or so of salsa. No dressing. I also had some snap peas, carrots and celery that I dipped in roasted pepper hummus. I had a peach and a pear for dessert/snack during the rest of the school day.
• For dinner, I had a medium baked potato topped with pico de gallo and grilled onions. I ate that with a side of roasted brussel sprouts. I had some peach for desert along with and 4 Wasabi almonds.

And where does that leave me? Well, it's 8:40pm and I'm not hungry.. I had decided that I was going to allow myself to have a glass of wine that was 1/2 cut with water.  But I'm full.

Originally, I wasn't going to broadcast my Eat to Live journey, but it's such a departure from anything else I've ever done foodwise, I figure why not!

And for all of you Weight Watcher's people out there.. this is tough on my mental state!  I went ahead and logged all of my food today, just to see what it would say. Well, with every morsel accounted for, I used 12 points for food and I earned 8 activity points. Those remaining 14 points are playing with my mind.. I could eat an entire candy bar and still not use any of my weekly extras!

Well, I'll keep you posted. I've already packed my lunch tomorrow (that is more than 1/2 the battle for me!). Can't wait to see if I drop any of my middle, my mommy pouch.. more than that, I am proud of the fact that I ate all of those veggies today! 

Changing the way I respond

I rejoined Weight Watchers yesterday. I did pretty well. I worked out, ate healthy foods and played with my little girls. I used all of my daily allowance, 1 weekly point and banked my exercise points.

Good thing!

This morning Maddie, at almost 15 years old, had tubes put in her ears. For the first time. Crazy stuff. We left the house at 4:45am in order to be at the hospital at 6am for check in.

before being called back to pre-op. it was EARLY!

Then we waited and the nurses did paperwork and we waited and finally at 8am they took her back to surgery.

We were at Ihop (Maddie's choice) at 9:30am.

It is possible to make healthy food choices at Ihop. I didn't.

Something about my kid being put under general anesthesia for at least the 9th time in her 14 years made me regress to my crappy food choices.

I was completely aware that I was doing it.. but I did it anyway.

I ordered the Swedish crepes.

I enjoyed the first one. I ate the second one. I stopped one bite in on the third one.

That was 12 Weight Watcher points. Ouch.

At least I only ate 1/2 of the order!! oh. my.

We got home and got Maddie to bed and I sewed some "bum warmers" (a fleece wrap thing you tie around your waist..) for cold weather running. I felt better.

I realize that so many of my eating choices over the last 14 years have been in response to Maddie's health. It's very easy to say "the heck with it, I want french fries or donuts.. I deserve it.. don't you know about my child's struggle." My response has to change. For the most part, it has changed.

This year I am committing myself to making better food choices 80% of the day.

I am looking forward to hitting my goal weight with Weight Watchers. There is just something about those points and that accountability that I need. My extreme, you have to be kidding me goal is 20 pounds. My realistic finish this journey off well goal is 12 pounds.

I'll keep you posted.

Girl Scout Cookies and Weight Watchers, a tough combination!

I don't know if it's good timing or not... but I'm the cookie mom for Lexi's Girl Scout troop, and I'm back on Weight Watchers.

OUCH!

Here is what my house looked like Monday afternoon.

That's 117 cases of cookies.

That 1404 boxes of deliciousness.

And let's see... Girl Scout cookies vary from about a point a piece for the most basic cookie to two points a piece for the ones I really want on WW.

So lets see.  33 cases of Samoas at 2 points a piece for each cookie

times 12 boxes per case times 14 cookies makes...

11,088 points.

I get 26 points a day.

So I could eat Samoa cookies for my full allotment of points every day for the next 426+ days. 

And then I could start on the Tagalongs.

Wow.

Thanks goodness we have 11 very excited girls that are selling cookies.

Or I might be in trouble.

I am happy to report however, that even with the cookies living in my house for the last week, I still lost 2 pounds!

Whew. And I totally blew it on Saturday.

Starting the day with 3 Tagalongs for breakfast will do that to you.

February 21st can't get here soon enough!

Weight Watchers... again!

As a wise friend reminded me this morning...

 

It's not a destination... it's a journey.

 

My reply was that I was hoping for a destination!

 

 

What were we talking about? Weight Watchers.

 

Yep, while I said I wasn't going to obsess over every bite I put into my mouth this year... the only way to actually not do that is to track what I eat.. yep, track every bite.

 

I know it sounds weird, but when I was on Weight Watchers, I didn't obsess over food. I made smart choices and enjoyed eating.

 

Then I hit my goal and enjoyed food too much! I used the excuse that I was training for a marathon to eat high calorie unhealthy foods... cause surely I was burning it off!

 

Well, 12 pounds gained in the last year is too much! So today I rejoined and am going to focus on being healthy.

 

I'd like to lose 20 pounds. I'd be happy with 15. Sad that if I would have just made better choices over this last year that I could just have 8 to lose.  But isn't that the way things work!?!

 

My goal is to lose the 20 by my 40th birthday in June. I have time to do it right. I just have to get started!

 

So this morning I did it. I even took arm, bust, waist, thigh, and hip measurements. eek.

 

And I'm off on my journey... trying to not stare at the destination!

 

So Long Weight Watchers, It's been fun.

I've been renewing my membership to Weight Watchers and their Active Link for months now... not because I was tracking food, but because I wanted to see how many activity points I could earn while training for a marathon.

Well, now I know. And so do you! 

Do you see that? From August 2 to November 2 I earned 827 points! And don't forget, I had bronchitis TWICE during that time!

Wow!!

So what's next? 

Well... I'm going to try to lose another 15 pounds before April 5th. I'd like to get rid of the love handles and the need for a sports bra for my HIPS!! Man, pictures from races don't lie!

So it's soo long Weight Watchers. Since May 2012 you have become a dear friend, but I think that I can take it from here. And if not, I can always renew my membership!

Weight Watchers Active Link and Me... a perfect pair? :)

FYI: This is not a paid endorsement. (I wish) I have to pay my monthly membership and my extra $5 for active link just like everyone else. Should Weight Watchers ever decide to give me something for free, you all will be some of the first to know! :)

This post is about why I have fallen in love with the Weight Watchers Active Link...

I am only in week 1 of my 12 week challenge with the Weight Watchers Active Link. But I am already hooked!

Why, because I THRIVE on challenges. The Active Link gives me a DAILY CHALLENGE, but it also gives me a 12 week goal.

That's right up my alley!

So what is an Active Link? Active Link is this little body clippy thing that you clip to your shirt or bra strap or put in your pocket and it monitors your activity. All your activity. Good or bad. See below the picture of my active link.

I put the little bugger on first thing in the morning when I get dressed and take it off when I get into bed at night.

Here is my page from today. (8/14/13 at 8:12pm) Today being a Wednesday, is my sleep in day... no morning workout. Normally I would do some sort of afternoon run or cross training, but it was our first day back at teacher in-service and I wasn't up for a workout. Tooo much happening in my world right now for an afternoon workout. And I overdid it yesterday considering that I am still recovering from Bronchitis. (shocker..)

What I think is really cool is that even though I sat most of the day, and didn't have any "real" exercise, I still earned 4 activity points. I think playing the wii helped out. But even then, I hit my baseline at 2pm while still at work. I like knowing that even on off days I'm not going backwards.

Did you notice yesterday's points? 11. yup. Maybe that's the real reason behind my not worrying about today's 4.

Now, if you aren't training for a marathon, I realize that your points are not going to look like mine. I hit the highest target from the start. And that was with my assessment week missing 3 days of workout or any real activity because of being sick! I'm actually thankful that the assessment wasn't completely accurate... not that I'm happy about this bronchitis thing, but because I am afraid it would have pushed me to do more. And I don't need that. Challenge yes, push no.

So where do I go from here? Well, my plan is to continue wearing it at least for a few weeks into the school year. I want to see what my activity pattern looks like on a normal school day. I think if nothing else, it will help me to see when I am sitting at my desk too long and when I am engaged teaching. I like the idea of sustained movement. (It helps me rationalize the oreo's!)

As to the Challenge phase? Well, I've got a marathon to run! The long term goal is to earn 8 points a day by the end of 12 weeks. Will I do it? I think so... but we shall see!

If you are a Weight Watchers member and you haven't invested in this yet... DO IT! I don't go to meetings and I don't input all of my food anymore, but this has given me a new spark in my overall weight loss/fitness mindset. And if you are a fool for charts, graphs and details... you will LOVE THIS! I'm guessing you could probably even make a spreadsheet for all of the data! No matter, it is a great little investment into your overall health.

A Frustrating Tale of the Scale

Since January 1, I have gained 9 pounds. Great. 2 of those pounds I gained THIS WEEK.

This should not be happening. Why is this happening?  Okay, I know why...more calories consumed than used.. but more than that.. HOW?

Let  me show you a visual recap.

 

Yes, you read that right. Since Jan 1st I have run 426 miles and burned more than 44 THOUSAND calories. This doesn't include the rest of the cardio... elliptical, rowing, weights, water aerobics...

But yes, I am gaining weight.

I would love to say that it's all muscle. But really... it's not all muscle. On one side of the seesaw is the fact that I logged more than 10 workouts each of the last few weeks. One the other side is that I sat on my rear working on my grad class, blogging and playing on facebook.

So what do I do? I do the one thing that would keep it all in check and that I haven't been doing. Track my food intake. ugh. At least Weight Watchers makes it easy on my phone.

Hmmm.. I wonder how many activity points training for a marathon will get me? :)

It's been quite a year!

It was a year ago that I decided I had to change my life. Don't know why Memorial Day was the day, but it was!  And what a year of change it has been! I didn't change the big things, like husband or family... just the everyday choices that made for an overweight and unhealthy me.

So, let's recap.

My first weigh-in for Weight Watchers had me at 173. ouch. I weighed on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I did so purposely because I knew that weighing in on Monday mornings would be difficult after the weekend. Loosing the weight was going to be hard enough, I didn't the need emotional ups and downs of a Monday morning ouch!

Here is a picture right before I started on the new me.

 

Looking at that picture makes my heart hurt. I'm so glad I did something. In the the first three weeks I lost 11 pounds.  The below picture is me at the one month mark. I started running and even exercised while at the scrapbook retreat. But oh these pictures are not kind.

 

Sometimes we need to see the brutal reality we have created for ourselves.

 

Over the next couple of months as the weight came off and I exercised more, a new me began to emerge.

 

 

And then in August, I got up the nerve to start running with some ladies. This was huge! The idea that I could run with others.. crazy! This changed my world. I went from running 3 or 4 miles tops to knowing that I could keep a decent pace and run more miles. Awesome!!

So I decided to run a 10k. I hadn't even run a 5k in 15 years, but heck, I've never let things like that get in my way! And I did it and found out through the process that I love running and love races!

From October 20th to this past weekend I ran nine races. Five 5ks, one 10k, two half marathons and one adventure race!

 

 

And there you have it. I met my original Weight Watcher goal in November and got as low as 136 on December 11th. Then the holidays hit and the winter blahs and then the crazy spring..Today I am at 142. I'd really like to get to 135, but I'm not putting much pressure on myself as summer is about here and I get to start water aerobics!!

 

I think what I have been most amazed at over this year is that while I have lost a lot of weight, I have dropped a lot of sizes. I never imagined that I would wear size 6 jeans and small shirts. So yeah, I'd like to loose a few more pounds, but really, that's more about my mental issues with the scale cause I sure am happy with the me that has been uncovered!

 

 

oh and I've started training for a marathon!

A Big Breakfast for just 4 points!

I wish I had taken a picture... but I didn't and I already ate it. :) After running this morning I was STARVING!!

I had a bagel with cinnamon cream cheese, eggs and bacon!! All for just 4 points!

How... well here you go:

1. Sara Lee mini bagel. Perfect size in my book. 2 points!!

2. 1 wedge Laughing Cow Cinnamon Cream cheese spread. YUM!! Just know that it's not sweet, it's cinamonny. 1 point.

3. Egg Beaters 1/2 a cup. 1 point.

4. 1 slice of fully cooked bacon. FREE!!

I make my eggs in the microwave with the one slice of bacon torn up and cooked with the egg. Doing this makes the bacon taste all through the egg and it feels like a lot more bacon!!

So, if you are like me and need some low point yet hearty meals, here is a great one for you!!

Have a great day!!

My Top Ten Tips for Weight Watchers Success

Wow, this ended up being a super long post. SORRY!!

As most of you know by now, I am a whole-hearted Weight Watchers supporter. After having a number of conversations about how to do WW well with a number of friends and family members, my mom suggested that I do my top tips.. so here they are!!

(first let me recap... started ww on May 28th and hit goal weight on October 16th having lost 35 pounds. I am still working on losing a few more, but I am well within my target range!!)


TOP TEN TIPS FOR WEIGHT WATCHER SUCCESS

1. Understand how your points work. For most of my journey I had 26 daily points. Plus you get the weekly allotment of 49 points and then you can earn activity points. What I learned early and had to remind myself is that I needed to eat within my daily points for my meals and to use my allotment for my snacks and extras. I did my absolute best to not use activity points at all!! If I did, I was sure to not lose any weight that week. I didn't gain, but I didn't lose.

2.  Decide on what you are going to eat for dinner before you put that first bite of food in your mouth in the morning. When you have as few points as I had, eating a 10+ point breakfast was nuts. So I had to plan. If we were eating pasta for dinner, I new that a 5 point breakfast was going to be pushing my daily allotment, so I had better be super good for lunch. But on the flip side, if I knew that we were eating a low point dinner, I'd scatter my points throughout the day and provide some variety to my day!!

3. Eat breakfast. I never ate breakfast before Weight Watchers. I'd drink a cup of coffee and be on my way.. unless I stopped for a donut. But with WW, I decided to go with their recommendation (and every medical professionals) and eat breakfast.  Hungry Girl had a very timely post about egg mugs and so I tried it and ended up eating eggs for breakfast almost every morning!

http://www.hungry-girl.com/home

http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1256 (egg mug recipes)

What worked best about the egg mugs was that it was a 2 point, yet filling breakfast. Add some coffee and creamer and I was still in the 5 point range. This allowed me to eat a smaller lunch because I wasn't starving!!

4. Exercise. The more you exercise the better. Any kind of exercise works. Walking, running, biking, swimming, sweeping, cleaning... if it gets you moving, it's earning you points!!

So, here is what I learned.. I'm competitive about everything, even earning activity points each week. During the summer, I would run and do water aerobics. Every week I would try to earn at least ONE more activity point than the week prior. And I really, really tried to not use any of them. I think the best thing about activity points is that it makes a relationship between food and activities. Now if I want a donut, I know that I am going to have to run for 40 minutes to earn the 6 points that I need to get the cost of that donut back. Many times I can ask myself if the donut is worth 40 minutes of running and this allows me to move on without the donut. Sometimes however, I say, yep it's worth it and I enjoy the treat. That's the great thing about Weight Watchers, I have the choice!!

5. Learn what the point range is for your favorite foods. For example... just because one Hawaiian roll is 2 points, 2 rolls are not 4 points. they are 5! Learn it and remember it. 5 points is a lot for bread. Personally, I lOVE Hawaiian rolls for sandwiches, but I found that the Hawaiian hot dog buns mentally felt like 2 rolls, but only cost me 3 points! A way better deal.

So, find a food that you like and play with the portion. You might find, like I did, that while you enjoyed eating potato straws, you enjoyed playing with the system just as much. For the record..

• 38 potato straws is 4 points.
•  28 (3/4 serving) is 3 points.
• 25 (2/3 serving) is 2 points.
• 19 (1/2 serving) is 2 points.
• 11 (1/3) is 1 point.
• 9 (1/4) is 1 point.

If you follow my logic and math.. you might, like me choose to eat either 25 straws at 2 points or 11 at 1 point. That's maximizing those points!!

6. Understand that some weeks you are not going to lose weight. The goal here is that you don't gain. If you have lost 3-4 weeks in a row, expect that the 4th or 5th week isn't going to be so hot. One of the cool things about Weight Watchers online are the reports. (I love charts and graphs.. you know that visual part of me again!  I may not remember the number, but put it in a color and I've got it!!) anyway.. the reports on Weight Watchers help you to see that you are losing and that you are going in the right direction!! So use those reports on the bummer weeks.

7. Figure out the restaurants that are easy to eat at! I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you are on weight watchers you are probably like me and eat out a lot and don't necessarily eat grilled tilapia and broiled kale regularly.  If you do, you probably don't need my tips!

Okay, back to restaurants.  I have two favorite WW friendly restaurants in our small town. McDonalds and Quiznos. Yes, I know Subway is good too,  but you already know about Subway. 

Many people balk at McDonalds, but man, it is soo easy to eat healthy there! Shocking isn't it!!  My favorite meal is the Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad. It's 8 points and you get tortilla strips, cheese, black beans and corn!! They put a sauce on the chicken so you can eat it without the dressing and the salad tastes great, or you can put a LITTLE dressing on it and bump up the value a point.

Another option is the Filet O Fish sandwich WITHOUT the tarter sauce. But you get a little fried fish, a slice of cheese and a bun! I add ketchup so it's not too dry. Add apple slices and you are ready to eat for just 8 points.

That tarter sauce on there makes me go YUCK.. but really without the sauce the sandwich is pretty good!

For Quiznos..

My hands down favorite is the Harvest Chicken salad. Eaten WITHOUT the dressing, you don't need it! A small salad is 3 points!!

Another fav of mine is the Basil Pesto Chicken Flatbread. It's not as friendly on points, but worth the splurge sometimes. A small flatbread WITH cheese and dressing is 10 points. 

The biggest tip on restaurants is to ASK for the nutritional information!! I was absolutely horrified when one day we were eating at Cotten Patch and found out how many points their entrees have. There is a reason they make finding the nutritional information so hard to find!!

8. Use the weekly allotment for eating out and guilty pleasures! I like a glass of wine and a package of chocolate dream clusters at night. That is 8 points. That's what I used my weekly allotment on. This way I know that if I go over during the day, my guilty pleasure is cut.

9. Stick with it. Don't expect overnight success. If you have a bad week, start over and look past it. Just stick with it!!

10. Buy new clothes as you need them. Even if you need to purchase them at Goodwill or the consignment store! As I lost weight, I had to buy new clothes, but I still kept a lot of my tshirts and clothes that I keep on as I didn't want to buy "in-between" sizes. WHY DID I DO THAT? I should have CELEBRATED the "in-between"!! If you need more information on this, see my previous post about re-framing my mind!

And there you have it. My very long top tips for a successful weight loss journey! 

Before and After Photo

The picture says it all.

But in case you were wondering.... As a teacher I have my picture taken every fall.   It's a great show of the years passing.

Here I am in September of 2011 --- BEFORE.

and then September 2012--- AFTER losing 33 pounds and going from a size 12/14 to a size 6.

Thank you Weight Watchers, and Stephenville Bootcamp, and water aerobics, and Stephenville Women's Running Club.... and the list goes on and on.

A Goal Made, A Good Run and.... Out of the Closet

A Goal Made:

 

Over the weekend I hit 140 lbs. This was my goal weight!! Yippee.  Of course, I ate so well over the weekend including a hamburger (I had forgotten how good those bad boys are!), that by my Tuesday weigh-in I was at 141. But that's okay, it was still a loss from the previous week. 

 

I am so close to "maintenance" that I can taste it!

 

A Good Run:

 

Over the weekend I also had a couple of good runs with friends, logging 11 miles in two days!!

 

So after taking it a little easier for a couple of days I went running this morning. I was really, really wanting to make it to the 3 miles in 30 minutes. I didn't make it. BUT, take a look at my ending pace! Yes, that's 7:51 at the end of 3.28 miles! In case you are wondering... I do the 3 minute run, 1 minute walk interval training. It REALLY works! I just have to remind myself to walk faster so that my overall pace is faster. But, given that at the end of May my overall pace was 14 minutes a mile and now on the 10th of October it's 10:25 a mile, I'd say that's a win.

 

 

And finally, my purse came OUT OF THE CLOSET!!

 

Maddie had a doctor's appointment in Dallas today and so, I decided to break out the COACH. It felt nice. :)

Lots and lots going on around here. Hope to fill you in more soon.

The PURSE!!

It's HERE!!

 

My COACH purse!!

 

It arrived Friday in the rain.  Thankfully it was well packaged!

Opening the box was sooo fun.

 Ta Da!!

(Of course Blogger is having issues and won't let me resize this picture!)

So why am I so pumped over a purse?  Well, it's really not about the purse. It's the journey that it represents and the daily reminder it will be to me to make better choices for my body.

I'm really not one of those people that get caught up in clothes and accessories (though I have enjoyed shopping lately!!) but back in May when I decided to change my ways and take control of my life I wanted a goal outside of my body shape and a purse that I would never buy for myself seemed like a good way to go.

And here I am!  It took 4 months of really hard work and dedication, but I'm happier and stronger for the effort!  I'm also wearing a smaller size than ever thought I'd get back too.

I haven't started using the purse yet. I don't want to get it dirty or rained on :) But I will soon. For now, it's sitting in my bedroom in a place of honor. Maybe I should place it in my pantry so that when I want a snack I have to walk by it!!

Thanks for taking this journey with me!!

Yes!

If you weren't on this journey with me, I'd feel like I was bragging.

 

I went shopping tonight. I didn't have anything to wear to my Grandad's funeral.

 

So while I was trying on dresses, I decided to try on some pants as well!

 

Take a good look at the picture.

 

Yes, that is a size SIX!!!!!

I am so pumped!!!

I also hit the official 30 pounds lost today!

I am so close to the Coach purse :)

I figure that I will level off the weight loss soon, but for now, I am thrilled.

Thanks for joining me on my journey!

Choosing to FIGHT a Negative Self-Image!

As you all know I have been on a diet. A full-blown, hard-core watch what you eat and exercise diet. Thanks to Weight Watchers and my determination, I have lost more than 25 pounds since May 29th!!

 

Now that I'm closing in on my target weight, I thought I'd take a look and see what the world wide web had for me as an ideal weight range.

 

I shouldn't have.  Instead of making me feel good, I ended up being hurt, mad, disappointed and incredibly frustrated. Why? Because there isn't a consistent range and many of them are CRAZY!!

 

To make my point, I'm going to use my journey as an example. This is important. That's why I'm willing to divulge the details!

 

In 1998, I weighed in at 130 pounds. Newly engaged and happy and a fit 24 years old. Isn't my picture with Doug so cute!! Oh how young we were!!  Just for reference: I wore a size six pants.

I stayed within 5 pounds of this weight until getting pregnant with Maddie. At that point I was sooo sick the first trimester that I lost weight and then ended up gaining 40+ by the time I delivered all 8 pounds of her!

 

After Maddie was born, I went back to work. She was sickly. Life was just a little stressful. I lost some of the baby weight, but it was slow. Finally, about the time she turned 2 I had made it down to about 150 pounds and a size 10.  I felt pretty good and was swimming a few MILES three days a week!!

 

Then we moved, I had a series of early miscarriages, Doug had a new career and life was once again pretty stressful. By the time Maddie was four I weighed in at 166 and was hating the way I looked. Dieting brought me back to 150 and a size 10/12.

 

Then I got pregnant, we moved and life got stressful again. I only gained around 20 pounds with Lexi, but afterwards I could still just get back to that 150 mark. I did that with running. Then I broke my foot.

 

Fast forward another few years and I had Kylie. I only gained 18 pounds with her! By then I knew that making it down to "pre-baby" weight was impossible, so I had to be careful!  And I was right, this time, now at age 35, my weight loss hit the wall at 160. Ouch. But I didn't have time to exercises. Life was just too busy!

 

So here we are in 2012 and I'm flirting with the 170's. I am miserable and my self-worth is at an all time low. I hate to look at myself in the mirror and I don't want my kids to grow up with an overweight mom. To make matters worse, I have three sisters who are SKINNY.

 

Finally, as the last day of school wrapped up, I made a decision. It was MY TURN. It was my turn to be on the list of priorities. It was my turn to be proud of myself. So I did it. On May 29th I started a new chapter.

 

I am now  really happy with who I am and where I am in life. Currently I weight 146. I am sooo close to that 30 pound mark. My goal is 140. Then I'm buying that Coach purse! I run on average 10-15 miles a week and do bootcamp 3 or 4 mornings a week. I am THRILLED with my progress. Here is a picture of me from this weekend! I'm wearing a size 8 skirt and my medium shirt is getting a little big! 

 

See, I have no need to be frustrated or sad. I'm doing great.

 

But now, let's go back to the WWW and see why I am in a tizzy.

 

Exhibit #1.

 

 

Did you read that? I know it's blurry. sorry.

It says:

"You are overweight by 14lbs."

Nice.

That's just what I needed to see.

 

So I decided to look at a different site.

 

WHAT????

 

THIS is NUTS. 112-116 pounds.???

 

I'll try another.

 

108? That has to be a typo. CRAZY.

Forget ideal weight, let's look for HEALTHY!!

This site says I should be between 111-140. Well, that's better. I says that my healthy BMI is right on the overweight side. Thanks.

 

And people wonder why women have such negative self-images? How can we not when this is what we are BOMBARDED with.

 

At 146, I feel better than I have in years. Yes, I want to lose 6 more pounds, but really, when I was a skinny theatre major in college wearing a size 4/6 I still weighed in at 125.  There is no good reason to put pressure on myself to weigh in at my "ideal". Whose "ideal" is this? The fashion industry?

 

In the end, I went back to my trusty Weight Watchers site and got a shot in the arm when I looked at my progress report. I can't say enough good things about Weight Watchers and they way they do things, the HEALTHY way they push you to eat and the HEALTHY weight ranges that they give you.  Below is a picture of my current progress report!

And let me end this rant with my new motto.

 

You might get skinny sitting on a couch, but you CAN'T get STRONG!!

Obviously, I need to work on my striking a pose. I need to learn how to do the muscle arm and fist right. No worries. I'll practice!

A visual reward!!

I haven't posted anything lately about my continuing weight loss journey.

And it's not because I fell off the wagon and didn't want to tell anyone!

 

I'm doing GREAT!!

I've lost 23 pounds.

 

In fact, I'll show you!

 



 Yesterday, while getting dressed I had to dig out a belt to wear in
order to keep my pants from falling off.
The belt was way too big too.

I had to punch a new hole in the belt. yippee!!

 

Take a look at the measuring tape.

That is almost FOUR INCHES SMALLER!!!

 

In May when I wore this belt last, I had it buckled at the third hole from the left.

Here is a picture of me from the spring.

That's me, down front on the left, with belt on.. 23 pounds heavier.

Yesterday, it was FOUR INCHES smaller. 

AWESOME!!

 

I'm still working hard each day to eat healthy and workout.

With reminders like this that my work is paying off helps!



Reward!

Tonight we went to the President's Gala at the local university.

It is RARE for me to say that I love the way I look, or that I love a dress.... but,

I loved the way I looked and I loved my dress.

That is incredible motivation for me to finish this journey!!

And in case you didn't take a good look.. look at my waist! Awesome!!

Another Weight Watchers Update

I lost another 3 pounds this week!!

Weight Watchers would probably say that I'm losing too quickly, but too bad for them! :) They probably couldn't imagine me earning 75 activity points in one week either!  75 activity points means that I have done a lot of running and water aerobics/jogging plus lots of just stuff with the kids.

Another really cool thing is that I posted my fastest mile this morning.  Since mid-May I have dropped 4 minutes off my mile pace!  Yes, I started super slow, but I have finally gotten into the true "runner" times. 

My endurance has also really increased.  When I started running I could go maybe 1/2 a mile before having to walk and I did a lot of running a few minutes then walking a minute and back and forth.  But now, I'm running almost the entire time and even used my 2.8 mile run this morning as a warm up for 70+ minutes of water aerobics/water jogging. 

More importantly, I am feeling better than I have in years!

And my clothes are too big.  Just this morning when I put on my running shirt (bought in May and it was snug) it was too loose and I had to change! YES!!

I'm 7 weeks into my new lifestyle and 15 pounds lighter. Not to mention 2 pants sizes smaller!!

This is what I call a productive summer!

Motivation

19 pairs of pants/skirts too BiG!!

That's what I call Motivation!!

And some of these were my "skinny" clothes :)